Act 2
Details of Act 2's story progression of the campaign. Synopsis The tragic fate of Eristede made Blin decide that the adventuring life was more dangerous than he had anticipated. With his name cleared in Corrowton, he left a note for Haven and Tyrion and departed for home. Archmage Manoj, the diviner, informed Haven that Leon is located on the Islands of Melueth, a group of islands inbetween the Eastern and Western kingdoms. It is a most uncivilised place - a port for pirates, smugglers and thugs as well as the 'honest' trader. She would need a ship to travel there, and transport became an issue as she and Tyrion had not the money needed to hire a boat and crew for such a journey. Haven and Tyrion were soon after summoned by Queen Arietta and high-ranking members of parliament. They are honoured that she arranged a beautiful funereal ceremony for Eristede, and provides funding for a life-like statue of him to be erected in Gedbury, Haven and Eristede's hometown. Time, however, was of the essence, and there was sadly not much available for grieving. Trusting the two remaining adventurers, the Queen informed the party that the anti-royalist terrorists, including Jarrow had been researching into the Orbs of Dragonkind. The Queen and her council feared that one of the Orbs may still exist, although everyone believes they were destroyed centuries ago. According to the investigation Jarrow seemed to be attempting to track down one of the Orbs. There were unfortunately no clues as to which Orb it may be, but the party was asked to discreetly investigate. Only the high ranks of the city watch and the church knew about this investigation. Haven and Tyrion then set off to find the last Orb of Dragonkind. They were advised to do some background research first, and so their first task was to venture to the archives specialised in ancient artefacts in Sherringate. As they were about to leave the palace, Mayor Malken suddenly burst through the doors, announcing that Sherringate had just been overrun by dark monsters. The party of two realised that they were going to need help to continue the Queen's mission and to look for Haven's brother. But, with these tasks in hand their new companions would need to be powerful and willing for adventure. Before they could begin blindly searching for help a rather odd human man approached them in the marketplace, introducing himself as Alberich, a cleric of Desna, good-aligned goddess of dreams, travellers, luck and stars. He claimed he had been directed to them, interpreting his recent visions in the night. Although Haven and Tyrion were initially apprehensive, they accepted his offer of help. A few hours later the party were called to the City Watch HQ by a guard, telling them that Captain Krang may have found another person to join their team. At the HQ Captain Krang took them to the cells, where he introduced the party to a rather abrasive, temperamental male dwarf, whose name was Rikard Tully. It was explained that he was in custody as he had initiated a drunken fight after his forge was burned down. Despite the dwarf's constant arguing, Captain Krang offered the dwarf his freedom but bound to the party to assist them until they returned to Leonore. Once the party's mission was complete, he would be free to go. The party learned that Tully used to adventure with a team, but they disbanded years ago and went their separate ways. His experience would mean that he was more prepared for the party's mission than most people in the city. Begrudgingly, Tully accepted the terms as the alternative was incarceration. With a new mission and two new party members, the party journeyed to the Sherringate Library to find the town had been evacuated and occupied by skeleton warriors, mummies and other unholy creatures. As there were so many, the party cleared the town and took refuge in The Silver Starling, where they found Noel hiding. He explained that one day a dark figure walked into the city and scared the population away with his army of undead. However this person only seemed to have interest in the library, which started to resonate an evil aura since he stepped inside. The party took shelter at the inn overnight and then retook the library but as they reached the highest floor, the dark figure had already begun torching the place, setting fire to the books and shelves. Alberich noticed that the mysterious person was a disciple of Lamashtu, the chaotic evil rival to his goddess, Desna. A battle ensued but as the evil cleric escaped he dropped something. This scrap of parchment was an invitation letter to a special black market auction of a powerful magic item, but the letter was torn and so the party were unable to discern any more from it. After clearing the Sherringate town of undead, the party returned to Leonore. Although the archives had been burnt, the party showed Captain Krang and Lieutenant Zoiya the invitation to a special black market auction, dropped by an evil cleric of Lamashtu. This news was not surprising to the authorities however, as the Queen's agents had also managed to find similar invitations. It was a possibility that the item could be an Orb, but the only way to determine this was to venture to the auction itself, due to take place on the Islands of Melueth. The Queen had reserved a boat (the Excelsior) and a crew for the party and it awaited their embarkment at the fishing town of Crimshaw. The party stayed in town to resupply for the long journey ahead, and after fending off assassins in the night they hastily made their way to Crimshaw. It didn't take the party long to discover that something was wrong in Crimshaw when they arrived. They found that the town had been taken over by pirates who were locking down the ports - no one was able to leave the town. The party attempted to find their ship, the Excelsior but they discover it damaged beyond a quick repair. Eventually the whole party was captured by the pirates who had taken over the Town Guard. During their imprisonment, they encountered an ex-Pirate Captain called Cherry Challinor. She informed them that a terrifying maruader called Magpie was leading the pirates and that he killed her lover, Captain Judas of the Town Guard. Although in a fragile state she agreed to help the party retake the town with the aid of her remaining imprisoned crew in exchange for giving them safe passage to the Islands of Melueth. Haven's magic allowed her to steal the cell keys off a sleeping guard in the night. Once free, the party and their new allies made their way upstairs to retrieve their equipment. Reclaiming her exotic weapon, the "Thunderclapper", she and her crew held off the onslaught of pirates while the party ventured deeper into the Watch building to take care of Magpie and his cronies. After defeating them, the party found letters from the disciples of Lamashtu, who had instructed the pirates to block all outgoing traffic from Crimshaw in exchange for the successful retrieval of the mystery magic item on auction. Cherry kept to her promise and set sail for the Islands of Melueth with the party and a select few crewmates, leaving the rest to assist the townsfolk. The party arrived at the North Port of Melueth following a rather quick and adventurous voyage, courtesy of Cherry Challinor, sea drakes and cecaelia. Looking for information amongst the locals they found that the auction was to take place at the back hall of the main island's largest tavern known as The Devil's Beard, held by its owner, Fensom. With their invitations in hand, the party attended, seeing all sorts of people bidding for various items mainly of historic nature. They waited until the end of the auction of the 'mystery item' on the list. Tyrion noticed that amongst the crowd was the same Lamashtu priest who they had encountered previously in the Sherringate Library. However, this time he was making no hostile moves. Fensom invited Tyrill to the stage, a retired human adventurer who was well recognised by the crowd and so wealthy that he bought one of the smaller islands nearby to be his home. Tyrill announced that he went to great lengths to obtain this item but as he was no longer able to take care of it, he wished to pass it on to the highest bidder. The curtain dropped and the whole hall was astonished to see a very young Bronze Dragon, captive in a reinforced cage. Bidding becomes furious, but the Lamashtu priest made an exit, seemingly disinterested and the party was uncertain as to what course of action to take next. Although the item was not the orb the party soon realised that the dragon should have knowledge on draconic artefacts, and must therefore know useful information about the orb. Obnoxious mages from the Eastern Human Kingdom won the bid and as the hall cleared, they arranged with Tyrill to pick up the beast the next evening. The party, deliberately eavesdropping on the conversation, decided to rescue the dragon from Tyrill's home, a small keep on Tyrill Isle. They decide to bed down for the night on Cherry's ship. While everyone slept Alberich heard a calling in his dreams. Leaving his equipment behind, he walked outside and made his way to the island's temple of Desna. Tyrion, having noticed, woke Haven up, but the two could not persuade Tully to follow. They stealthily caught up with Alberich who was greeted by a fellow priest of Desna outside their temple. As they listened in, Alberich was informed by the priest that the clergy needed him - a darkness was looming on the horizon, and the disciples of Lamashtu are moving once again. The Desna priest hoped that Alberich's short time with his fellow adventurers had prepared him for what's to come soon. Desna needed him now. Torn between his loyalty to the church and his party Alberich promised to return to the Desna temple the next night, to finish freeing the dragon with the party. Reluctantly, the priest accepted his compromise and awaited his return, bidding Alberich a good night. Alberich walked back to Cherry's ship and fell asleep, unaware that he had been followed. Haven and Tyrion decided to talk with him about it in the morning. The next day Haven and Tyrion made no hesitation in asking Alberich straight away about what had happened last night. Alberich explained and gave them notice that he would be departing from their company soon. Haven and Tyrion showed understanding, though Tully showed no interest. Cherry assigned one of her crew with a rowing boat to take the party to Tyrill Isle. Deciding to attempt a stealthier approach than engaging the front of the keep, the party crossed a small jungle with some rather aggressive fauna to find a back entrance. Easily breaking and entering into Tyrill's Keep, the party found the dragon. He revealed that he was captured as an egg and consequently has no knowledge of the orbs. He did however know the location of the dragon's nest where he would be able to return to in order to ask for this information. Despite his captivity the dragon was not hostile towards humanoids, due to the kindness of a servant that used to work at the keep. This servant's name was Leon. This news immediately caught Haven's interest but the dragon informed her that unfortunately Leon had not been himself since he tried to escape a week ago. Leon was somewhat psychologically damaged and had been taken in by a temple on the main Melueth Island. His condition was so bad Tyrill could not bring himself to employ Leon again. The party and the dragon escaped from the keep on Tyrill Isle. The party agreed to meet the dragon in a day's time at the Mermaid's Reef island, to give him time to meet with his fellow dragons and to return with information regarding the orb they are after. In the meantime the party returned to the Melueth main island, making their way to the Temple of Desna to say goodbye to Alberich. Shockingly, when they arrived, they found the temple had been destroyed - only rubble remained and there were a few priests helping others who were injured or still trapped under the fallen building. A few bodies lay at the side, and a priest scolded Alberich, telling him he was needed and he should have been there when it happened. Alberich fell to his knees, crying, feeling that he had failed his goddess, and with deep regret he bid farewell to the party. Haven, still eager to find her brother, led the party to search for Leon at the other temples on the island. They found him at the temple of Sarenrae where they bump into Elras Arcamenel again. Elras had a word with the priests and escorted the party to a private room at the back, The party were shocked to see Leon chained to a bed, asleep. Haven attempted to wake him, but Leon did not respond. Although Tyrion drew steel, the friendly priests of Sarenrae explained that Leon was brought to the temple, found in this permanent sleep-like state. Leon was able to eat and drink, but apart from that he kept walking in a particular direction. This usually caused him to walk into objects or other people. The reason the priests chained him was because the direction he went would cause him to fall off a cliff. The church had tried many of their curing spells on him, but to no avail - this condition or curse seemed to be supernaturally induced. There was only one option the priests had not tried which was allowing Leon to walk off the cliff. The party decided to unchain Leon and escort him when he next sleepwalked. NIght descended and Leon arose and immediately proceeded to walk into a wall. The party dragged him outside and followed him as he made his way out of the urban area and into the outer wildland of the island, closely following Leon's slow steps. Overcoming an ambush of leeches and shambling mounds in the swamp, the party stopped at the cliff where Leon still was walking towards. They decided to lower him down the cliff edge using some strong silk rope. Once they were all on the narrow beach, they discovered some large, old wooden statues and a hidden door set in the cliff face. Upon touching the door the statues came to life and when the party defeated the golems the door opened. Descending down a passageway, the party discovered some lost, ancient ruins and were found a stone statue holding a rod, pointing at another door. Tully recognised the stick as a wand of Ray of Enfeeblement, which became instrumental in bypassing the door. The party was then confronted by two beings, both of which had hidden their alignments. They were trapped within impenetrable force fields of energy and were in separate rooms. One of them was a gnome adventurer, and claimed that he came with a group of adventurers to vanquish a demonic being that was defiling the ruins of this ancient temple. He said that the demon wiped out his adventuring team but he tried to use a scroll of magic and accidentally trapped himself and the demon. The party then listened to what the other being had to say. It looked like an angel, and claimed to be a celestial being who had teleported in to destroy a demonic defiler of the old temple. However, their magic had clashed and resulted in them being caged. The celestial being recognised Leon and revealed to the party that it had planted a subconscious message in Leon as he was walking near the cliff edge one day, in the hope that Leon would fetch help. The spell did not go quite as planned, but the celestial being released Leon from his hypnotic state. Unfortunately Haven decided to continue being angry with the celestial being, and called it 'evil' for having used her brother. She then embraced Leon and the two became inseperable as they caught up on each other's lives. The celestial being said that the party would need to speak a certain few words to the demon in order to banish it, working in conjunction with the magic of the force field. After more discussion with both beings, Tully decided to try speaking the words at the gnome. Realising what was about to happen, the gnome shapechanged into its true form, and lashed at the cage before disintegrating. Elras then began purifying the area with further instruction from the celestial being, who then teleported away after thanking the party for their help. Whilst sleeping again at Cherry's ship, Tully decided to leave after realising that the party was in the middle of nowhere, and slipping away from the grasp of the City Watch would be all too easy. With nothing left for him in Leonore, Tully asked Cherry to get him off the island away from the party. She did not like traitors however, so she deceived him into travelling with some rather unpleasant company. The party awoke to find him gone, and Cherry passed on the news. Elras offered to join the group and Haven and Tyrion accepted, although surprisingly with reluctance. They had one more appointment to make before leaving the island and that was to rendez-vous with the Very Young Bronze Dragon who they had promised to meet at Mermaid's Reef. The dragon however was not alone and had brought someone with him, who was introduced to the party as Dh'argo'VakSin'Dillax. This human was sorcerer dragon disciple, servant to the dragons in exchange for their knowledge. The dragon revealed that his clan know that one of the orbs was not actually destroyed - it was locked away centuries ago in a pocket plane instead, and the portal was sealed with powerful magic. However, time has eroded the safeguarding magic to the portal, and the dragons wished to send Dh'argo to retrieve it so it may be destroyed. As it was sealed away with draconic blood, no dragon could enter the portal, but Dh'argo was mainly a human, so he would be an ideal candidate for their mission, though they did not wish for him to go alone. The party seemed to serve the dragons' needs. The Very Young Bronze Dragon then teleported the party as close to the location of the portal as the dragons believed it to be but before they left Haven said farewell to Leon, who decided to stay with Cherry and her crew who would be departing for Leonore shortly. Haven, Tyrion, Dh'argo and Elras suddenly found themselves in Inverlae, the western kingdom of the elves. Tyrion realised it had been three months since he had buried his mother at her grave in Simorelle. When the party decided to camp for the night he snuck away quietly, returning to his home village to pay his respects. He visited Addylyn's grave only to find it empty, the soil having been disturbed. Outraged he began a rampage through the village demanding answers to what they had done with her body. The party managed to catch up with him and after calming him down the villagers explained that she had been gone for a couple of months. A few weeks after Tyrion had departed from home she appeared next to her grave, packed her things and walked to Ariadul, the nearby town. Although a couple of villagers apologised to Tyrion for the way they had treated him and his mother before, Tyrion ignored them. Unable to reconcile with his past he left the village again without saying goodbye. There was an immediate tension in the air when the party arrived in Ariadul. The party was immediately asked by the Town Guard to hand in their weapons, however, Elras intervened and reassured them. Despite this, the party were informed the city was on curfew and were strongly advised to stick to it. As the party made their way through the marketplace they were given funny looks, and found even the shopkeepers not being very forthcoming. An important-looking man ran up to the party, recognising them as the famous heroes of Esmere. Introducing himself as Ambassador Edmund, he invited them for tea at the Esmere (Human) Embassy. He apologised for the icy welcome from the Town Guard but they had their reasons. There had been some minor incidents in the town. One of his servants, Enson, was thrown in prison after repeated incidents of theft and assault. His behaviour however was out of the ordinary - Enson was a supporter of the alliance and apparently he couldn't remember any of these occurences. Edmund was annoyed that other elves had exhibited similar behaviour but have been treated better. These incidents had not helped with the upcoming trade conference in Ariadul. Edmund suspected only one person, an archmage called Sardyl of the Arcane Institute. He spoke out against the humans a while ago, remarking that elves were superior and don't require humans as he believed them to be lazy. Edmund realised that Tyrion was Addylyn's son and recommended that he visit her at her home further in town where she'd been living for the past two months. Tyrion's father used to work for the Esmere Embassy and fell in love with Addylyn in the city. The couple settled for a quieter life in Simorelle and Addylyn gave birth. Tyrion's father didn't return from battling the giants and so Addylyn remained in the village and did visit Edmund on her occasional trips to Ariadul. Tyrion informed Edmund that Addylyn died, which confused him. Edmund insisted that Addylyn was alive and well and missed Tyrion. He said that she moved back to Ariadul when her son left home. Elras visited the Town Guard to speak to Captain Iyronel who confirmed what Edmund had said. He found that Sardyl was an abrasive and annoying character but was highly regarded in the Arcane Institute. Meanwhile Tyrion and Addylyn were joyfully reunited at her home. She remembered waking up next to her grave but not how she got there. She asked around Simorelle about her son but found that he had gone with no indication as to where. She decided to settle back in Ariadul and prayed that Tyrion would one day return. Elras met up with the party at Addylyn's house and they went to the Arcane Institute to speak with Sardyl. Sardyl however, refuses to see them. The party investigated the Arcane Institute and after asking around they found that every two nights he would sneak out to some old ruins. He had been researching on a mysterious phenomenon of magical distortion there for around three months. His apparentices only knew that it was growing but not of what it was. Sardyl was also the only current licensed elven mage who researches into necromancy. Ordinarily the subject was banned at the Arcane Institute but Sardyl showed exceptional knowledge and talent so they made an exception. In the evening Edmund summoned the party for help. An Elven Guard was spotted setting fire to the Esmere Tradehouse. Captain Iyronel arrived and commanded his guard, Ulred to stop but he didn't listen, continuing with his arson attack. The party intervened and restrained Ulred, much to the dismay of Iyronel. The party spotted Sardyl observing from a distance who then returned to his workplace upon the arrest. At the Town Guard HQ the party were present at Ulred's questioning, to which, unsurprisingly, he did not remember anything. Iyronel asked if Ulred's severe head injury from three months ago had affected his judgement. Ulred reassured the captain that he was fine but decided to spend the night in the hospital. The next day a human guard, Ethan was arrested for defacing an elven minister's home. Addylyn then led a protest outside the Esmere Embassy, which turned violent with elves throwing food and junk at the building. Tyrion and the party quickly took her away before Town Guard arrived. Back at her house she couldn't remember anything. The party persuaded her to rest and not leave the house. Back at the Town Guard HQ, Ethan also couldn't remember anything. The party examined Ethan and Enson more closely and discovered that they had lethal accidents months ago which should have killed them but they survived. The party decided to confront Sardyl, sneaking out at night to the ruins. They followed Sardyl to an ancient temple site and saw a whirling portal of black and blue energy. It however was jittering in its existence (like static on a TV signal). Sardyl approached the portal, incanting unknown words which began to transfer energy from the portal to him. Confronting the necromancer the party did battle. Sardyl taunted Tyrion and said that Addylyn was alive because of him. If he should fall, then the lifelink would be broken and Addylyn would die again. Tyrion was asked if he wanted his mother to die again. With tears in his eyes, Tyrion cried out that she was already dead and landed a killing blow to Sardyl. D'hargo examined Sardyl's notebook, understanding that he was unaware that this was a magic portal. Sardyl had simply been siphoning energy from it to create new magic, such as an arcane version of ressurection but with a twist of mind control. Tyrion, flooded with emotion charged through the portal, leaving the party with no choice but to follow. The portal led to a pocket plane where the party was presented with a series of challenges. Their first was combatting Air Elementals. This was followed by navigating a small dungeon with deaf basilisks loitering the area. The third test involved freeing a trapped cube by standing on a pressure pad that slowly lowered the magic field around it but continuously burned the person standing on the pad. The party's intelligence was then tested by solving a logical 'clock' puzzle, followed by a test on their judgement. They were presented with the case of Rothar the Half-Orc who killed a man, Rick after a card game. Four witnesses were called and the party was allowed to question them. Denby the bartender saw Rothar losing and saw him chip in a valuable heirloom. He commented that Rick hates orcs, and so found it unusual that Rick chose to play with Rothar. Jeb, a tavern patron saw Rick cheating and goading Rothar and saw the fight where Rothar killed him. Bill the bouncer saw Rothar kill Rick too, claimed that Rothar was in a state of uncontrollable rage. Rose the waitress saw Rick put someting in Rothar's drink. The party spoke to Rothar who was very apologetic for his actions. Because of this they decided he should have a sentence of community service. The last test involved a little girl, who sat infront of a humungous dragon statue. She was hugging a large glowing ball and did not want to give it to the party. It was up to them to persuade her to hand it over to them. D'hargo attempted to cast the spell 'Charm Person' on her to make the process quicker but it had no effect and she temporarily imprisioned him in a magical maze. Although Haven was known to be a more charismatic person it was Tyrion who proved to the girl with his words that she could trust him. Handing over the glowing ball, the party were teleported back to the ruins over Sardyl's body, the Orb of Dragonkind on the ground. Carefully placing it into a sack, the party finally had the object they were seeking. Before making their way back to Leonore they said their farewells to Edmund and Tyrion buried his mother again, back at her grave in Simorelle. After retrieving the Brass Orb of Dragonkind the party stopped off by Sherringate on their way back to Leonore. A travelling circus happened to be also in town, staying for a few days. Haven was chatted up by a human bard, much to her annoyance. She shrugged him off several times although he showered her with bad poetry. The party woke next morning to find the Orb missing - it had been stolen in the middle of the night. Casting detection magic, D'hargo discerned that the trail led to the circus tent where a show was taking place this morning. The party barged in on the performance demanding for answers. Instead of stopping the show however, they let loose their animals, acrobats and spellcasters to deal with the party, inspired by the bard who had been after Haven. Successfully subduing all the performers the party found out that Blin, their previous companion, had taken the Orb back to Corrowton under orders from Argent, the Thieves' Guildmaster. Angry and betrayed the party journeyed to Corrowton to retrieve the Orb of Dragonkind before Blin's chance to hand it over to the thieves guild. Investigating around town and the sewers they located the thieves' hideout but were ambushed on the way. However, Cheetah, Blin's best friend, stepped out of the shadows and aided the party. He informed them that Blin stole the Orb because Argent had kidnapped his mother and father and was holding them hostage. Despite these circumstances, the party was still angry and made haste to the Thieves' Den. As Blin was about to hand over the orb the party crashed in, taking down Argent, the head assassins of the Thieves' Guild and rescuing Blin's parents. Blin apologised but asked the party if they would do anything to save their parents. Tyrion, near to to tears, mentioned in reply that he let his mother die just recently to save the world. After an awkward goodbye the party resumed their journey with the orb back to the capital city, Leonore, to destroy the Orb once and for all. Notable NPC's * Queen Arietta * Captain Krang * Lieutenant Zoiya * Archmage Manoj * Mayor Malken * Inkeeper Noel * Cherry Challinor * Fensom * Tyrill * Ambassador Edmund * Captain Iyronel * Sardyl * Argent * Cheetah * Blin Notable Locations Western Human Kingdom - Esmere * Capital City: Leonore * Towns: Sherringate, Corrowton * Villages: Crimshaw Western Elven Kingdom - Inverlae * Towns: Ariadul * Villages: Simorelle Islands of Melueth * Melueth, Tyrill Isle, Mermaid's Reef